


a mountain between us

by kaumari



Series: time is the change from stardust to bones [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, M/M, Reconciliation, basically it's the mountain scene, witcher au!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:54:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26033773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaumari/pseuds/kaumari
Summary: in which shinsuke says what he doesn't mean and atsumu treats it as gospel.
Relationships: Kita Shinsuke & Miya Atsumu
Series: time is the change from stardust to bones [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889728
Kudos: 17





	a mountain between us

"If life could give me one blessing, it would be to take you off my hands." Everything else fades away. For an excruciating moment, Atsumu can only stare at Kita uncomprehendingly. Then the blood rushes back into his ears, thrumming like a war drum on the battlefield on his heart. His questions catch in his throat. Kita, the man who doesn't care for gods or destiny, asking for one blessing is more than enough of an indication. It's more than enough to tell Atsumu he's overstayed his welcome.

It's not something he planned for. Never, not in the past 22 years, did he ever truly consider that Kita may turn his back on him. Maybe that explains why he accepts it so easily. Maybe he never understood Kita at all.

"Alright." And that's all there is to it. 22 years, tossed to the side like a dirtied rag, all at Kita's beck and call. Atsumu has no doubt he would do it again. Loyalty is not something he knows well, but loyalty to Kita is ingrained in him now. He can, would, follow him to the ends of the earth if asked.

Looks like he won’t have to worry about that anymore.

The mountain is dusty and rocky as always. It hasn’t changed a bit in the past few minutes despite Atsumu’s entire world upending itself in that same period of time. A rustling of some nearby leaves has his hackles raised and teeth bared. His five tails wave in the air, and the scent of the tanuki fades as it scurries away from his threatening display. Faster and faster, he relearns this form, until the mountainside flies by underneath him, splashes of brown and gray and green.

Kita asked for only one blessing. Only one blessing to a higher power that he never believed in. Who’s Atsumu to deny that wish? If anything, he will fulfil it. A trickster god giving a trickster blessing. Kita wants him off his hands, and so it will be.

Shinsuke will search the continent, asking after every bard that travels through, searching for someone he cruelly cut out of his life and realized too late. He will turn up empty-handed as one year turns into five, five into twenty. Eventually he’ll stop asking. A mortal man he had known for 22 years, who had lived for at least 20 even before that, will not be alive sixty years later. And a trickster god will watch him, time and longing smoothing the jagged regrets and pain. A shattered love that gets put back together, piece by piece, the gaps a reminder never to trust blindly.

And Shinsuke finds himself back in Posada, in the same seedy tavern where the whole mess started when one flirtatious bard approached him. It’s bittersweet and melancholic to sit there, sipping on a tankard that tastes better than he remembers. On a whim, he makes another wish.

“If life could give me one more blessing, it would be to find you again.” In another life, perhaps, where he’s not a facsimile of a man.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in.” A voice he’s only heard in his head for the past sixty years. Witchers don’t dream, not quite, not like this. He doesn’t want to look, but it’s as if his eyes are magnetic, drawn to their opposite against his will.

It doesn’t matter how he’s here. Or, it does matter, but not urgently, not a priority to know. Here’s Atsumu, leaning against a post with all the nonchalance of their first meeting, but with a certain wariness in his tense shoulders. Ready to run at a hint of hostility. Shinsuke knows he deserves it.

“There’s been a string of strigga murders south of here,” Shinsuke says in lieu of greeting. “The last ballad about them seemed to be a success.”

“Aw, Kita, are you saying you missed my singing?”

Shinsuke stares directly at Atsumu as he says, “Yes.” Full and total conviction in one word. He knows he has more to say, more to apologize for, but that can wait for a bit. For now, one more adventure is waiting to be immortalized in song. For now, Atsumu is here, willing to rebuild a burned bridge, and Shinsuke will make sure he doesn’t push him away again.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/timelessidyll) \+ [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/timelessidyll)!


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